The Control Yuan yesterday censured the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) for neglecting its duty to prohibit Chinese agencies from publishing certain types of advertisements in the form of news coverage in Taiwanese media.
Control Yuan member Frank Wu (吳豐山), who was in charge of the investigation of the case, said the Control Yuan had gotten hold of contracts between local newspapers and agencies in China that showed the media outlets carrying feature stories about China in return for payment.
Although Wu declined to specify which newspapers were involved in the embedded marketing, examples of the said feature stories cited in the investigation report showed they were published by the Chinese-language China Times and the United Daily News.
Article 34 of the Act Governing the Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) and a related bylaw stipulate a number of restrictions on contents of ads run by China in Taiwan.
The regulations bar Chinese institutions from running ads in Taiwanese media to attract individuals, groups and institutions to do business in China, or to invest in its real estate market.
Contents of ads funded by China must not contain any political propaganda for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the rules state.
“Due to negligent management, the rules exist in name only and not in reality,” Wu said.
The Control Yuan’s report said that in actual practice, some print media in Taiwan circumvent the regulations by publishing feature stories that are essentially advertisements to promote certain Chinese provinces on days that coincide with visits of high-level Chinese provincial officials to Taiwan.
The Control Yuan cited an example of an unidentified newspaper publishing a series of feature stories in early August regarding the agricultural performance and tourist attractions in Hunan Province that coincided with the visit of a delegation led by that province’s CCP vice secretary.
“The value of freedom of press lies in the fact that a story is written and edited independently and not a commercial product that can be exchanged for money,” Wu said.
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